This is no ordinary book about books. A sense of this can be gained by a quick look at some sub-chapter headings: The Ethics of Paranoia, A Mind Jumping like a Flea, Discreteness and Discretion, Spoiling Empathy, Being Untrue, Crying over the End of the Book. The last one…

What exactly is Roman Britain? This is a question author Charlotte Higgins tackles head on, and the answer may surprise you. “Britannia Romana: the very phrase 'Roman Britain' in uncomfortable, a hybrid open to all kinds of awkward questions. Historians and archaeologists still intensely debate whether these islands became…

“The country is governed by newspapers.” This was the astute observation not of a British politician, but a member of the Royal Family. None other than Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. He was speaking in 1861. But perhaps even more surprising is who his audience was. Prince Albert was…